Hotel Madame Rêve

Don’t be fooled by the massive building, which still houses one of Paris’s post offices as well as this new five-star hotel, Madame Rêve offers guests a cozy residential experience in the heart of a newly buzzy neighborhood.

• The stunning brasserie on the first floor which draws a gorgeous crowd of patrons
• The special rooftop restaurant Plume with views over central Paris
• The rooftop walking terrace that offers 360 degree views over all of Paris

The five-star Madame Rêve Hotel sits a few blocks behind the Bourse de Commerce a.k.a. the new Pinault Collection art center in a portion of what used to be Paris’s largest post office. The central area of the building still houses the Louvre post office, but one side of the first floor of the monumental building has been transformed into the lobby of Madame Rêve, which feels more like the entry of a luxury apartment building. Another section houses the hotel’s grand brasserie, which incorporated the 24-foot high ceilings of former post office space but warmed them up with soaring silk drapes and oak floors. The space aches for a Wes Anderson scenario, but instead just buzzes with chic patrons who come for the Mediterranean cuisine, which is served all day here and at tables spilling out to a lovely courtyard.

All 82 guest rooms and a rooftop restaurant occupy the entire top floor (which because ceiling heights vary in the building is either the third or seventh floor.) In keeping with the 19th-century, Haussmannian architecture, the building has a slanted roof, so the guest rooms have an artist loft kind of feeling, though the finishes are very luxurious. The décor is super refined and sleek, with a golden brown palette and lots of leather-trimmed furniture, wood paneling, cashmere throws and handmade carpets. As a nod to the building’s history as Paris’s only 24/7 post office (this was the hub on tax day, for instance), the owner bought a huge collection of “mail art.” Lots of artists’ postcards and mail-inspired artworks decorate the rooms. Entry-level rooms are quite small and have only showers, but more than half of the rooms have balconies facing the interior courtyard and garden wall. Suites, of course, are the most sought-after with seating areas and wonderful skylit bathrooms with tubs.

The top-floor restaurant La Plume, which has a Japanese-French fusion menu, has amazing views of St. Eustache church and the surrounding area. In good weather there is outdoor seating and a rooftop bar as well as chaise lounges for digital nomads to work outside. You can also climb up an iron stairway to access a walkway that encircles the entire city-block-size roof for a promenade with 360-degree views of Paris.

Lovers of discreet luxury who don’t need the scene of a grand palace hotel but prefer a place that feels more like a superbly run private apartment building with outstanding restaurants and who don’t need to be right in the thick of the action but a short walk from it.